Marin Readers' Forum for Oct. 1

Thank you for initiating a community discussion in the recent "Editors Kitchen" column about teen drinking.

We were simultaneously heartened and dismayed by the variety of responses from parents to the question, "Do you allow your kids to drink at home?"

According to the responses, many parents allow their kids to drink at home based on the common myth that European kids grow up drinking at home and have no problems. That myth has been debunked repeatedly by the World Health Organization and numerous research studies.

A well-documented study of European teenagers actually showed that things are actually worse in Europe (U.S. Department of Justice, February 2001). According to data, European teenagers in 22 countries including Italy, England, Denmark and Spain, binge drink at significantly higher rates than their American counterparts.

Moreover, respondents in more than half of these countries reported significantly higher rates of intoxication (getting drunk) than the United States.

It's also time we started looking at the truth of how adult behavior affects teen drinking. Many parents falsely believe that allowing kids to drink at home somehow prepares them for moderation in situations where out of control drinking is prevalent.

This couldn't be more wrong. A 2011 study (University of Washington Social Development Research Group) comparing ninth-graders from Victoria, Australia and the state of Washington showed that youth who reported drinking with adults were twice as likely to end up drinking on their own and twice as likely to experience negative consequences — like fights, blackouts and the inability to stop drinking.

Allowing your kids to drink at home doesn't "prepare" them for anything except more drinking and it puts their health and safety at risk.

The problem of underage and binge drinking is big and it's serious. It's time to educate ourselves about the facts and let go of outdated myths. If you want to make a difference, sit down with your kids and talk to them — don't drink with them. The conversation will be tough and there will need to be more than one — but it's the only thing that really works.

Thank you to the Marin Board of Supervisors, for endorsing Propositions 34 and 37.

The death penalty is administered far more frequently to impoverished members of racial minorities, making it the harshest form of racial discrimination.

Because of the inequities and the financial and moral costs of the death penalty, I strongly agree that it is time to replace it with life imprisonment without parole.

Proposition 37 would give consumers the ability to avoid GMOs if they wish, because it would require GMOs to be labeled.

It only asks that we know if a food has been genetically modified. With increasing information about the dangers inherent in GMOs, it is important for us to have the means to decide whether to include them in our diet.

These two initiatives offer us the power to become healthier and more humane.